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Climate Corporation upgrades weather insurance

The Climate Corporation has upgraded its Total Weather Insurance (TWI) program for 2013. The company made the announcement as it was completing insurance payouts for one of the worst and most extreme growing seasons on record.

The company reported it had made payouts on 80% of all TWI corn policies for this year. In Iowa, 90% of all TWI corn policies resulted in insurance payouts. Illinois received even more wit 98% of the TWI corn policies garnering a payout. Results from soybeans were not yet available.

One of the TWI upgrades is the Growth Phase Tracker. It calculates coverage dates for key weather perils by tracking the weather-driven progression of the crop in-season. As a result, TWI coverage adapts to a broader range of weather scenarios, such as unusually early or late planting.

The Soil Moisture Tracker introduced this past year gives daily moisture conditions on 2½- by 2½-mile grid. The tracker is improved by setting an initial soil moisture condition in the spring and an improved method for calculating daily changes to soil moisture that include actual temperatures in the area and moisture lost through evapotranspiration.

Another upgrade is more precise weather measurements for 2013. Temperature measurements will be made on a 2½- by 2½-mile grid using thousands of on-the-ground weather stations for daily temperature readings. Each grid uses data from up to three nearby weather stations, as well as other geographic information to calculate the temperatures.

"When modeling a complex biological system such as the rate of crop growth in the field, better data resolution means better results,” says Jeff Hamlin, director of agronomic research. “With TWI 2013, we are incorporating more localized temperature data, field-level soil characteristics, grower-reported seed variety information, and in-season weather conditions to further enhance our understanding of the conditions present in any given field. As a result, we can better track crop development, adjust coverage periods, and ultimately improve the protection we provide to growers."